Herrera places emphasis on Bosnia friendly

Mexico head coach Miguel Herrera will lead his team in four pre-World Cup matches starting with one against visiting Israel on May 28 in Mexico City. (Photo: Mexsport)

CHICAGO – Three days before meeting Portugal in its final pre-World Cup friendly, Mexico will square off against Bosnia on June 3 at Soldier Field in Chicago.

The encounter between Brazil 2014 qualifiers could go a long way towards determining the starting 11 for each in their respective tournament openers.

That fact is not lost on head coach Miguel Herrera, who met with the press in the Midwestern U.S. city last week.

“It is a preparation match, practically the closing for us to go to Brazil, so it is going to be a very important match,” said Herrera. “Bosnia is a World Cup team as well and it is going to be a very interesting match for us. I think that it will be seen with a team that is 80 or 90% of the base that we are thinking of starting the first match of the World Cup. For that, it is going to be a very serious match and with the idea of preparing the team 100%.”

The former Club America manager also explained how he is fine-tuning the side in order to achieve maximum success this summer.

“The truth is that we are instilling into the boys that attitude, that determination of going out to win all of the matches, to try to commit as few errors possible,” Herrera stressed. “And I reiterate, a team that is physically well to compete face-to-face with whomever and the mentality to win, to win and to make the final and win it.”

He also pointed to the upcoming World Cup as an opportunity for the team to create its own history in the competition.

“Mexico has unfortunately not gotten to the quarterfinals many times, but we have a positive mentality and the team is going to work very strongly to make a different World Cup and enter into Mexican football history with wins in those games,” expressed Herrera, who played for the Tricolor at the 1993 Copa America.

Next up for the six-time CONCACAF Gold Cup champion is a friendly against visiting Israel on May 28 at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.

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